Reporting back on the Teachers’ TV debate

January 27, 2009 by
Filed under: Public policy 

I said I would report back on the Teachers’ TV debate last night. The gig was worth it even if only to see the magnificent Capital City Academy building and facilities in Willesden. Call me a liberal old softie, but I find it inspiring to see wonderful facilities like this serving a diverse working class community.

Following my piece in the Indie yesterday, which suggested Labour was unlikely to recover using traditional political means, I fear I will have been disowned by even the tiny group of friends I had left in the People’s Party. But by way of balance I should say that I am a firm believer that Labour’s combination of reform and investment has delivered real and lasting progress in public services.

Of course, there have been disasters, like the NHS IT system, but when the number of people waiting over 6 months for NHS treatment has fallen from several hundred thousand to zero, when survival rates from cancer and other major killers are rising impressively, when more children than ever before are leaving school with a reasonable level of qualification, when the number of abjectly failings schools has been reduced to a small fraction (each of which is having its problems aggressively addressed); then, in the light of the financial crisis, it is difficult not to conclude that the benefits of state action are proving more worthwhile than those of the free market. (And, more anecdotally, let me loudly proclaim on the basis of extensive personal research it is now much better to try to deal with a public sector than a private sector call centre!)

And so to the debate itself. Despite the skilled chairing of Krishnan Guru-Murthy and the learned contributions of three out of four of the other panellists, it was a night of false dichotomies: subject versus competence, knowledge versus skill, relevance versus insight. There was even someone in the audience from a campaign arguing that greater use of computers in schools would kill the book – this despite sales evidence showing the reverse, and the fact that the works being replaced by on-line information are largely text books and thus not likely to have appeared in the canon of world classics.

Another highpoint was the woman from the Campaign for Real Education attacking the Rose Review of the primary curriculum, but apparently doing so without being distracted by actually reading let alone understanding the review. Clearly another victim of trendy teaching methods!

Share

No related posts.

Tags: , , , ,

Comments

4 Comments on Reporting back on the Teachers’ TV debate

  1. Daniel Snell on Tue, 27th Jan 2009 12:37 pm

    2. Matthew,

    Andrea Fiore was behind the CCA build, Andrea used to work for Frank Lowe and still sits on the board. It’s a great school building, and where I cut my teeth on delivering youth programmes.

    Daniel

  2. Joe Nutt on Wed, 28th Jan 2009 5:55 pm

    3. Like you Matthew I was quite impressed by the building. I was there in its first year of operation. But I would recommend you visit it (or indeed any school) like I did, on a school day, because a school isn’t a building. I’m afraid I was not so impressed by the school I saw. When I asked my guide why (when I could count well over a dozen children chewing gum just from where I stood) couldn’t I see any gum on the luxurious “street” carpet? he told me rather sheepishly… that it had just been replaced.

  3. matthewtaylor on Fri, 30th Jan 2009 8:06 am

    4. Yes, of course, we can’t judge a building until we see how people use it and children are particularly likely to subvert the grand plans of architects. On the other hand, the buildng has itself evolved. The large open entrance has now got a glass walled library in it which is a good way of underlining the purpose of the bulding as a whole

    Thanks for your comment

  4. Joe Nutt on Sat, 31st Jan 2009 12:12 pm

    5. Matthew,
    That is really good to hear. When I visited, the entrance was a cafeteria, the floor of which was covered in litter. I think one of the most interesting spaces which no one has yet really designed well in any new school, is the library. They tend to be either conventional libraries with computers in, or learning resource centres which, as one writer commented on the radio recently, sends out the signal this isn’t a school it’s a creche. It is an area I would love to work creatively on with an organisation like the RSA because no one I know, has yet worked out how to use new technologies to enhance what is an almost perfect learning tool, the library. It’s a terrific opportunity for the right team.

Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!